DEMONOID Riders Of The Apocalypse
Nuclear Blast
2004
1. Wargods
2. Firestorms
3. Witchburners
4. 14.th Century Plague
5. Hunger My Consort
6. The Evocation
7. Arrival Of The Horsemen
8. End Of Our Times
9. Death
Old school and I am loving it! This has been one of my favorite releases to come out in 2004. Featuring members of THERION, yet not publicizing it in advance, not even a website, DEMONOID (one of the absolute worst band names ever conceived) play death metal, early 90s style. A concept album, Riders Of The Apocalypse will most likely go down as one of the more overlooked albums of 2004, but not by Papa! From the cover, to the lyrics, right down to the music itself, these guys have produced a whopper of an album. It amazes me that the main force behind this are two members of THERION.
Kristian and Johan Niemann have been working on this material, as it did not fit within the current contexts of THERION's direction, with hopes that they would one day release it. Interestingly enough, THERION founder Christofer Johnsson really liked what they had created and wanted to be a part of it, so he was brought on board. Fans of old school THERION should note that Johnsson's vocals are the heaviest they've ever been, and they sound great.
The production is top notch and classy, modern yet old school, the band seeking no outside help in that department, very impressive. They make a point in the liner notes of notifying the listener that all drums are acoustic, no fucking samples or triggers were used. It also says that this was recorded back in December of 2002and was finished up by February of 2003. So, why in the hell did it take so long to release this top notch feast for the ears? The story is divided in parts among the tracks, dealing with the biblical riders of the apocalypse. Loosely based on the Bible, the story tells a tale of mankinds worst crimes, angering the gods and then the sect invoking the four horsemen to end humanity for all time. The lyric book is a great read and artist Gyula Havancsak has produced one of the best booklets Ive seen in some time.
Now, on to the meat and potatoes, the music!
Wargods is an excellent thrash number, with superb guitar solos that would make some of the late 80s, early 90s masters wet their pants. In fact, fans of shredding guitar solos would be doing themselves a favor by picking up this cd. A perfect example is Hunger My Consort, with beautiful clean picking and nice classical solos in the background before going into sweeping backwards sounding arpeggios.
Other standouts for me are 14th Century Plague, a doom ridden death dirge, Arrival of The Horsemen, and the following track, The End Of Our Times, both employing underlying melodic guitar textures while riffing away. If youve made it this far, the final track is a nine minute epic, prepare to be entranced. A very hypnotizing riff that synchronizes with the drum patterns and loses the listener in its web like trance.
Riders Of The Apocalypse is a concept album that works on all levels, the story, the music, the artwork and the production. Simply amazing, the only reason this album doesnt score a perfect ten is because I cant make up my mind whether a scarce clean vocal would have improved or ruined this album. I think a choir like effect wouldve been cool at the end of the album, but hey, maybe they just wanted to completely separate this from any element of THERION. Either way, the album is truly one of the more remarkable releases of the last year. I say shelf THERION for a year or so and give the metal world more DEMONOID (man, I hate that name!)!!!!!!!
Rating: 9.5
Papa Josh
